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Columbia, South Carolina (ICC) 5-08
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South Carolina General Assembly, The South Carolina Arts
Commission and the University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum are
pleased to announce the recipients of the 2008 Jean Laney Harris Folk
Heritage Award. The award ceremony was held on April 16th in the South
Carolina State House. This award recognizes outstanding achievement and
contributions to the arts in South Carolina.
“I believe that there is no better choice for this high honor... Dr.
Goins is one of South Carolina’s most well-known and beloved Native
American storytellers, singers and dancers,” explained Representative
Gilda Cobb-Hunter.
The state legislature created the Folk Heritage Award in 1987 to
recognize lifetime achievement in traditional arts. The Jean Laney
Harris Folk Heritage Awards are one-time awards presented annually by
the South Carolina General Assembly
An author, activist, educator, recording artist, community leader,
crafts artist, Will Moreau Goins is an active member of the state’s
arts community and is well known nationally and internationally and
beloved throughout the state of South Carolina.
He is also a Storyteller. In the tradition of the great Iroquois &
Cherokee orators, Will Moreau Goins, Ph.D. is a well-known and
requested presenter. “As our most requested speaker, Dr. Goins reached
thousands of South Carolinians, from students to senior citizens,
presenting on a variety of folk heritage and humanities topics... Dr.
Goins is an excellent historian, a strong speaker, and a passionate
advocate of the arts,” added Mr. Randy Ankers, Executive Director of
the SC Humanities Council.
In his stories Will Moreau Goins weaves the ancient past, mythology and the present with dramatic narratives and song.
He also is a Storyteller in a new contemporary medium by his work in
stage productions and in film. He has worked in the field of
communications/ film and video for over 25 years. He founded the
successful SC Native American Indian Film Festival ten years ago. A
recording artist, that also has his storytelling available on CDs, Will
is a “Singer of Songs,” contemporary and ancient chants. He thinks of
himself as a contemporary person in a modem age with ancient reverence
and knowledge. His craftsmaking is inherited from his forefathers and
was passed down to him by the family members, matriarchs, who continued
these traditions in his large extended Native American family.
“Goins knowledge is deep and his professionalism in unmatched... I can
think of no more worthy recipient for this award than Dr. Will Moreau
Goins,” stated Mr. Ed Bolt, Site Manager, Pickens County Museum Hagood
Historic Site.
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Dr. Goins, active statewide in the arts community of SC, serves on
various boards including the Board of Directors for the South Carolina
Traditional Arts Network. He is presently a part of the Humanities
Council SC Speaker’s Bureau and currently serves as the president of
the S.C. Traditional Arts Network, a statewide network promoting,
preserving and celebrating South Carolina’s traditional and folks arts.
Dr. Goins taught Native American Indian beadwork class at McKissick
Museum in 2005. In addition, Dr. Goins was classified as a “SC Master
Artist” in the SCAC Traditional Arts Initiative and served to teach an
apprentice Native American Indian regalia design and construction and
Native American Indian beadwork in 2006. He is an Active Member of The
SC Storytellers Network (member since 2003).
Will Moreau Goins has dedicated his life honoring all his ancestors and
preserving, presenting and performing Native American music traditions,
beadwork and storytelling. He weaves the ancient past, mythology and
the present with dramatic narratives and song.
He has worked with Native American people, tribes, organizations and
agencies, both federal and state, for over 30 years and presently has
an integral role with the Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois and
United Tribes of South Carolina Inc. This non-profit organization is
“dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of South Carolina
Native American arts & crafts, history, culture, and heritage.”
For years, Goins has been passionately involved with the American
Indian Educational Programs, working specifically with K-12 students
and also Higher Education. In addition to song, storytelling and
beadwork, Goins leads the Cultural Arts Ensemble, a dance & drum
troupe that travels the region and internationally to perform Native
American ceremonial dances, including the “Stomp” “Storydances,”
“exhibition,” and “Round” dances. This ensemble “reaches out” to over
10,000 youth in performances annually. “He is an accomplished artist a
tireless community activist and certainly a constant promoter of art...
He is, in my view, a valuable asset to the state of South Carolina, his
Native people, and the arts,” stated Representative Joseph H. Neal of
South Carolina’s general assembly.
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